Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Quote from Stephen Leather

Today I read the article "After the Book Deal" by Dianne Moritz in my SCBWI May/June Bulletin. In it, she describes how being an author can be dangerous: it's only a matter of time before everyone floods you. But not for your autograph–for your "advice" on how to get some story they wrote published.

So far, seven. That's the number of friends, colleagues, or family members (sometimes on behalf of their children, too) that have asked me so far. My answer? Become a good writer rather than focusing how to get the one-book-they've-ever-written published (or the three books they've never shown anyone except their cousin). I don't want to sound demeaning. If your dream is to be a writer, go for it! Dream big...but work hard.

Here's what Stephen Leather had to say about the new trend of everyone self-publishing their own work, from a Guest Post at Joe Konrath's Blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing:

"If you have written a book then you deserve a pat on the back. Well done you. But just because you’ve written a book doesn’t mean it’s good enough to be published. And just because you’ve been published doesn’t mean that people will buy it. It seems to me that the rush to embrace self-publishing means that the quality of the work has become secondary to the marketing of it."

Read the entire post. Then, read a lot more about writing. Then write. Then write more. Then revise it. Then revise it more. Then, start the process of getting your work published. You might regret what you've released to the public otherwise, and the people who bought your first, terrible book, might never forgive you enough to buy the second.

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About Me

Hi! I'm Miranda Paul. My full website is at MirandaPaul.com. This is a blog where I share more about my life, books I like, and random thoughts. My favorite things include mangoes, potatoes, and the serial comma (ask your teacher if you don't know what that means). There's a lot more I'm not telling you about me. The good news is that if you hang out long enough here, or on Twitter or Facebook, you'll probably find out everything you wanted to know—and more.